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The Opportunity Gap

Is Your State Providing Equal Access to Education?

ProPublica analyzed federal education data from the 2009-2010 school year to examine whether states provide high-poverty schools equal access to advanced courses and special programs that researchers say will help them later in life. This is the first nationwide picture of exactly which courses are being taken at which schools and districts across the country. More than three-quarters of all public school children are represented. Read our story and our methodology.

From http://projects.propublica.org/schools. © Copyright 2011 Pro Publica Inc.

Find a school

Dobie High School

10220 BLACKHAWK BLVD, HOUSTON, TEXAS, 77089 | Grades 9-12

Districts with 3,000 or more students
Students Total Teachers Inexp. Teachers AP Courses
This School
3,400
244
13% 17
District 51.5K 3,070 20% 14
State 4.01M 269,017 14% 15
 
State Average
 
District Average

Percentage of relevant students who...

Get Free/Reduced Price Lunch

48%
75%

48%
State Avg: 48% District Avg: 75%

Take at Least One AP Course

20%
11%

12%
State Avg: 20% District Avg: 11%

AP Pass Rate

48%
33%

53%
State Avg: 48% District Avg: 33%

Take Advanced Math

10%
8%

7%
State Avg: 10% District Avg: 8%

Are in a Gifted/Talented Program

8%
5%

6%
State Avg: 8% District Avg: 5%

Take Chemistry

26%
33%

36%
State Avg: 26% District Avg: 33%

Take Physics

14%
18%

14%
State Avg: 14% District Avg: 18%

Participate in sports

32%
0.0%

19%
State Avg: 32% District Avg: 0.0%

Are

0%
0%

0% Am Indian
State Avg: 0% District Avg: 0%
4%
3%

11% Asian
State Avg: 4% District Avg: 3%
15%
78%

53% Black
State Avg: 15% District Avg: 78%
50%
7%

20% Hispanic
State Avg: 50% District Avg: 7%
29%
11%

17% White
State Avg: 29% District Avg: 11%

Dobie High School, part of the Pasadena ISD, is located in Houston, Texas. The school reports enrolling 3,400 students in grades nine through 12, and it has 244 teachers on staff.

Dobie High School is on par with the state average and below with the district average in terms of the percentage of its students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. On average, 48 percent of students in Texas qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs, and 48 percent of Dobie High School students do. At the district level, 75 percent of students qualify.

ProPublica's analysis found that all too often, states and schools provide poor students fewer educational programs like Advanced Placement, gifted and talented programs, and advanced math and science classes. Studies have linked participation in these programs with better outcomes later in life. Our analysis uses free and reduced-price lunch to estimate poverty at schools. We based our findings on the most comprehensive data set of access to advanced classes and special programs in U.S. public schools — known as the Civil Rights Data Set— released by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.

Dobie High School offers 17 AP courses, and 12 percent of students participate in those classes.

The school's pass rate for AP exams is 53 percent. This is higher than the district average of 33 percent.

A school's AP pass rate is determined by the number of students who both sat for AP exams and passed some or all of those exams.

Dobie High School's enrollment rates in chemistry, physics and advanced math subject areas are 36 percent, 14 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Gifted and talented at the school has an enrollment rate of 6 percent.

North Forest High School, also in Houston, Texas, is a higher-poverty school than Dobie High School, with 100 percent of its students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. The school offers 13 AP courses, and 14 percent of students are enrolled in those courses.

These data points were reported by schools and districts to the Office for Civil Rights. For more information about the data, see our full methodology.

— Generated by Narrative Science